By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Edgewood’s Kade Gilchrist, one of the leading scorers in the state, showed off his dangerous skills against Bedford North Lawrence.
Gilchrist, ranked second in Indiana with 24 goals during Edgewood’s first nine games, added four more to his tremendous total while powering the Mustangs to a wild 7-5 shootout victory over the Stars on Monday evening.
BNL (3-6-1) exploded for three goals in the final 15 minutes during a desperation-driven comeback from a three-score deficit, but the Mustangs survived that rally with two late scores (including the Gilchrist clincher) to end the drama.
After spotting BNL a 1-0 lead, Edgewood (8-2) scored the next four to take control, and extended that margin to 5-2 when Gilchrist completed his hat trick with 24:06 left. The Stars scrambled back within one goal when Ian WIlcher cranked home his second at 11:16, but Edgewood’s counter strike (capped by Gilchrist’s fourth) stopped the miracle revival.
“That last 20 minutes, they really played with their hair on fire, with intensity,” BNL coach Ryan Otis said. “If we play like that the whole game, I don’t think anybody would doubt we would have won this game. We came out slow. We scored a goal, then we left up. We needed to play with that aggression the whole game.”
BNL struck first with Ayden Patton’s goal at 25:03 in the first half, then Edgewood took control. Jasha Edgeworth (16:49) and Gilchrist (13:35) gave the Mustangs a 2-1 halftime lead. Quincy Morwick (38:01) and Gilchrist (31:56) got Edgewood off to a hot start in the second half.
After Wilcher slammed home a goal from the top of the penalty box with 25:17 left, Gilchrist snapped home a 25-yarder with that wicked left foot at 24:06.
“He’s having a heck of a season,” Edgewood coach Jared Edgeworth said. “He’s been finding the back of the net. It’s his ability to get a shot off quickly. It catches people off guard, even though they know what he’s trying to do.“
BNL’s late eruption included goals by Patton (tipping a high-bouncing ball past the goalie) at 13:37 and Wilcher (on a sharp pass from Patton) at 11:16.
“We have to learn how to nurse a big lead,” Edgeworth said. “We left ourselves vulnerable in the counter attack, and they got us.”
After the two Edgewood goals restored order, BNL’s Saeben Arce finished off the explosive half with a rebound off Parker Beeson’s close-range shot with 4:56 remaining.
”We tried to get our strikers to do diagonal runs and get balls on the ground to them,” Otis said. “Play balls on the ground that we can run onto. We have speed up top, and we need to utilize that when we can.”
The Stars will host Jeffersonville on Saturday.
